Dolphins add 2 players, tweaking 53-man roster

Sunday, August 31, 2014

The Dolphins have added two more players who never got drafted, making moves Sunday to sign safety Brandian Ross and cornerback Sammy Seamster off waivers.

Ross spent the past two seasons with Oakland, playing in 30 of 32 games. He spent 2011 on Green Bay's practice squad as an undrafted free agent from Youngstown State. Seamster, an undrafted rookie out of Middle Tennessee State, was waived Saturday by Baltimore.

"Our philosophy is, once you get here, whether you're an unrestricted free agent or you've already been on the roster, whether you're a draft pick or an undrafted player, we're going to judge you based on merit and what you do here," Dolphins general manager Dennis Hickey said. "Once they're here, we have a competitive environment."

Miami kept five undrafted rookie free agents on Saturday when originally paring its roster down to the NFL's 53-man limit. With Seamster, that number now goes up to six.

"The credit goes to the players," Hickey said. "All those first-year players when they come in, we say, 'Look, it doesn't matter how you got here. It's up to you. You make of it what you will and we'll be watching.' So the credit goes to those players. They earned it."

Ross and Seamster were added after the Dolphins' staff reviewed preseason tapes from around the league.

"We go through and we grind all the tape and just watch for players that could potentially help us," Hickey said. "So that was through a lot of film study. We felt like they provided both as positional players but also on special teams. That's a big part of their value."

Miami opens the regular season at home against the New England Patriots on Sept. 7.

Later Sunday, the Dolphins announced the 10 players signed to their practice squad, a list mostly composed of players who were with the team in training camp.